Shamali-kalil Whittle, a rising 6th grader at Crockett Middle School in Hamilton, poses with his 2 national outdoor sprint medals at Norfolk State University, VA.
Hamilton’s 11 year old Shamali-kalil Whittle capped an outstanding year in track and field by taking home the bronze medal in the 200 meter national sprint final 11U division at the prestigious AAU Junior Olympic Games held in Norfolk, Virginia from August 2 to August 8, 2015.
Whittle, a rising 6th grader at Crockett Middle School in Hamilton, celebrated his 11th birthday in style by posting three personal records in the 200m rounds en route to his national third place finish in the 200m finals, where he sped to a fast 25.79s. The race was won by Dorian Friend of Houston, TX (25.48s) and Whittle was just nipped for the silver medal by rival Fitzroy Ledgister (JCP, NJ 25.74s), whom Whittle had recently beaten in the sprints at the AAU Regional Championships in Connecticut.
Whittle also added another national medal to his collection in the 100m finals with a 7th place finish despite a poor start after advancing with the 3rd fastest time overall of 12.75s. However, Whittle was unable to start in another race he was favored to medal in, the 400m dash, due to cramps.
For the 2015 track season, Whittle won a total of five national sprint medals, including the AAU National Indoor 400m dash gold medal he won in Ann Arbor, Michigan earlier this year. Along the way, Whittle dominated his age group by capturing the outdoor 100m, 200m and 400m sprint titles at both the AAU New Jersey state as well as AAU Regional levels.
According to Elite Youth’s “National Youth Ranking System”, Whittle finished the 2015 track season ranked number three in the 200m dash (25.79s) and number four in the 100m sprint (12.75s) among all 11U division boys in the USA, cementing himself as one of the fastest 11 year-olds in the country this year.
